From Eve to Dawn, A History of Women in the World, Volume III: Infernos and Paradises, The Triumph of Capitalism in the 19th Century

401 Pages·2008·2.991 MB·English

by  Marilyn French, Margaret Atwood

F R O M
E V E
T O
D AW N
Other Books by Marilyn French
Fiction
The Women’s Room(1977)
The Bleeding Heart(1980)
Her Mother’s Daughter(1987)
Our Father (1994)
My Summer with George(1996)
In the Name of Friendship (2006)
Nonfiction
Beyond Power. OnWomen, Men and Morals (1988)
Women in India (1990)
The War Against Women(1992)
A Season in Hell. A Memoir (1998)
F R O M
E V E
T O
D AW N
A HISTORY OF WO M E N
VOLUME 3 :
INFERNOS AND PARADISES, THE TRIUMPH
OF CAPITALISM IN THE 19TH CENTURY
M A R I LYN FRENCH
Fo rew o rd by
Ma r g a ret At w o o d
The Feminist Press
at The City University of NewYork
Published in 2008 byThe Feminist Press at The City University of NewYork
The Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue, Suite 5406
NewYork, NY 10016
www.feministpress.org
Text copyright © 2002 by Marilyn French
Introduction copyright © 2007 by Marilyn French
Foreword copyright © 2004 by Margaret Atwood
The poem “Changes of Name,” reprinted in this volume as an epigraph, first appeared
in What Nell Knowsby Barbara Greenberg (Summer House Press, 1997). Reprinted by
permission of the author.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or used, stored in any information retrieval sys-
tem or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise without prior written permission from The Feminist Press at
The City University of NewYork, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in
critical articles and reviews.
The Library of Congress provided the following Cataloguing-in-Publication Data for all
four volumes of this series:
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
French, Marilyn, 1929–
From eve to dawn / Marilyn French ; foreword by Margaret Atwood.
p. cm.
Originally published: Toronto : McArthur, 2002.
ISBN 978-155861-583- 0 (trade paper)
1. Women—History. I. Title.
HQ1121.F74 2008
305.4209—dc22
2007033836
This publication was made possible, in part, by the Lawrence W. Levine Foundation,
Inc., and by Florence Howe, Joanne Markell, and Eileen Bonnie Schaefer.
Cover design by Black Cat Design
Cover illustration by Carole Hoff
12 11 10 09 08 5 4 3 2 1
To Barbara Greenberg and Margaret Atwood
CHANGES OF NAME
Changes of name, style, faith, vocation, partner
occur so often among your friends that you
don’t know now where you stand with them. You’re tilling
what you believe to be the good old acreage
but the plains on which you live seem windier, and the bus
when it U-turns at the bend to take on passengers
isn’t delivering any, or much except catalogs.
Most mornings you walk down and back unaltered.
Where did everyone go, where is everyone?
How come it’s only you and the birds in the open
with rivers echoing Bach and skies byTurner
and rich steam from a kettle of soup left simmering
into the air, but where are the hands with their bowls?
Changes of mind, changes of diet and rhythm
have swept them leagues from you, even the elders,
even the youths for whom you sang and poured
so when the angel alights nearby, what pleasure
to welcome him, to see his wings descending
like black silk lingerie but perfectly solemn
and yet invitingly. As if from Eve to Dawn
your own name changes. Your intimate ghosts
veer off to sea the way old weather does, and something
is settled. Although the angel leaves without you
and without touching you, you know: it is settled.
—Barbara Greenberg
C O N T E N T S
FO R EWO R D by Ma r g a ret At w o o d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i x
IN T RO D U C T I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
CA PI TA L I S M TR I U M PH A N T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 7
CH A P T E R 1: IM PE R I A L I S M I N AF R I C A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 9
CH A P T E R 2: IN D U S T R I A L I ZAT I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 8
CH A P T E R 3: UTO PI A N I S M A N D SO C I A L I S M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 7
CH A P T E R 4: MI D D L E- CLA S S WO M E N I N EN G LA N D . . . . . . . . 1 2 8
CH A P T E R 5: MI D D L E- CLA S S WO M E N I N T H E
UN I T E D STAT E S BE F O R ET H E CI V I L WA R . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 6 0
CH A P T E R 6: TH E CI V I L WA R A N D ITS AF T E R M AT H . . . . . . . . 1 9 8
CH A P T E R 7: WO M A N SU F F R AG E I N T H E UN I T E D STAT E S
A N D GR E AT BR I TA I N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3 3
CH A P T E R 8: LA B O R MOV E M E N TS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 5 5
CH A P T E R 9: TH E WA R AG A I N S T WO M E N . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 0 8
NOT E S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .332
SE L E C T E D BI B L I O G R A PH Y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .353
IN D E X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .367
MA P:
Map of the World: Peters Pro j e c t i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 6 4

F O R E WO R D
FRO M EV E TO DAW N is Marilyn Fre n c h’s enormous four-
volume, nearly two-thousand-page history of women. It runs
from prehistory until the present, and is global in scope: the first
volume alone covers Peru, Egypt, Sumer, China, India, Mexico,
Greece, and Rome, as well as religions from Judaism to Christianity
and Islam. It examines not only actions and laws, but also the think-
ing behind them. It’s sometimes annoying, in the same way that
Henry Fielding’s Amelia is annoying—enough suffering!—and it’s
sometimes maddeningly reductionist; but it can’t be dismissed. As a
reference work it’s invaluable: the bibliographies alone are worth the
price. And as a warning about the appalling extremes of human
behavior and male weirdness, it’s indispensable.
Especially now.There was a moment in the 1990s when, it was
believed, history was over and Utopia had arrived, looking very
much like a shopping mall, and “feminist issues” we re
supposed dead. But that moment was brief. Islamic and American
right-wing fundamentalists are on the rise, and one of the first aims
• i x•